''Hotbox'' was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

absurdist

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octo ...

."On the hot seat ; The Comedy Network: Pat Thornton has many roles getting Hotbox on the air" by Bill Harris, ''

The London Free Press ''The London Free Press'' is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Southwestern Ontario. History ''The London Free Press'' began as the ''Canadian Free Press'', founded by Willia ...

'' (29 May, 2009) Retrieved from It starred

Pat Thornton Pat Thornton (born September 5, 1976) is a Canadians, Canadian television actor, comedian, and writer."Pat ...

, Sandy Jobin-Bevans, Levi MacDougall,

Jeff McEnery Jeff McEnery (1984)"Small town, single and microwave mac'n cheese", CBC Radio Laugh Out Loud podcast, 27 January 2017. is a stand-up comedian and actor born and raised in the small town of Acton, Ontario, Canada. He is a graduate of Humber College' ...

, Vivieno Caldinelli and Tal Zimerman, and was a spinoff of the online sitcom ''The Owl and the Man''."Thornton's owl hatches 'Hotbox'" by Brian Gorman, ''

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

'' (4 June, 2009) Retrieved from Some notable guest appearances on the show included comics

Jon Dore Jonathan David Dore (born November 2, 1975) is a Canadian comedian and actor currently based in Juneau, Alaska. Education Dore attended Brookfield High School and studied broadcasting at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Career Jon Dore was forme ...

, Colin Mochrie and

Seán Cullen Seán Cullen (born August 29, 1965) is a Canadian actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for combining improvisation with mimicry and music. He is known for providing voices of characters in shows like ''Best Ed'', ''Seven Little Monsters,'' a ...

. The title "Hot Box" relates to the show's

frame story A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

, which starts in each episode's opening sequence, which depicts a box which falls from space, and is discovered by scientists. Throughout the episode, the scientists then perform disastrous experiments involving the box, which contains screens displaying the show's sketches. These sketches include

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

s, commercial parodies,

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s,"The Week In Tv" by Murtz Jaffer, ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' (1 June, 2009) Retrieved from and fake movie trailers.

Sketches

Brian Dennehy Brian Manion Dennehy (; July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in ...

convention, numerous commercials for a fictional "official unofficial Brian Dennehy convention" taking place at the

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Convention Centre. Other "events", for example, "The 22nd Annual Festival of Whips Convention for 1987", have been advertised at the Hamilton Convention Center as well. *Brad Piss, a salesman (Thornton) who pitches new products in low-quality, self-produced,

television commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

. For example, in episode 12, Brad Piss advertises Fripps: "The delicious taste of potato chips... and then you put them in a fryer". *

Cthulhu Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was first introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pan ...

and Jim, a sitcom about an ordinary man, Jim, who works at a video rental store with Cthulhu. *Dinner in Space, in which "Willie Montenegro" (Thornton) interviews guests (see above) about various real or made-up projects they have worked on. *Dinosaur Man, a children's television program in which a man (not dressed as a dinosaur) (Thornton) entertains a live audience of children by simply putting the word "Dinosaur" into normal conversation. * French Toast Hawk, a series of animated commercials from the fictional French Toast Board of Ontario, in which a hawk attacks people and steals their French toast. *Howdy Do That!, a live

how-to The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is a dormant an all-volunteer project that maintains a large collection of GNU and Linux-related documentation and publishes the collection online. It began as a way for hackers to share their documentation wi ...

show in which something always goes wrong. *Lobsterman, a superhero (Thornton) with a poorly disguised

secret identity A secret identity is a person's alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pimpernel in 1903, the concept was widespread in pulp heroes and is particularly prevalent ...

. *Press Conference Bear, in which a bear who is an author takes questions from a hostile, sensationalistic journalist. *The Owl and the Man, a sitcom about an insomniac and his friend, who is an owl. *Rage Rabbit, about an irritable,

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

-like cartoon rabbit superhero. *RoboCop, which depicts the filming of various commercials which star

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...

, who reacts violently to comments from the other actors. *Sand Advice, in which personified sand (Thornton) provides an anecdote. *Video Game Footage, many episodes feature a series of sketches depicting a fictitious

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

in the style of 1980s

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

s. The game is 'played out' over three different levels and has many of the characteristics of old arcade-style games: poor quality, heavily pixellated, low color depth graphics, monotonous and repetitive sounds, etc. Examples of games featured include the following: "Paint Me Cat", "Rappin' Dad" and "Virtual

Donair Doner kebab (, ; tr, döner or , ), also spelled döner kebab, is a type of kebab, made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on the rotisserie, next to a vertical cook ...

Maker", which contains some

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(both spoken and written).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hot Box (Tv Show) CTV Comedy Channel original programming 2009 Canadian television series debuts 2010 Canadian television series endings 2000s Canadian sketch comedy television series 2010s Canadian sketch comedy television series Canadian television series with live action and animation Canadian television shows featuring puppetry